Kingsville – Stephen Story came off the bench to score 15 points as the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas beat the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds 74-65 in the Lone Star Conference South Division opener at Kleberg Bank Court.  Click here for stats.

   The win was the fifth conference opening win in the last six years and broke a two-game Javelina losing streak. The Hogs improved to 12-4 overall and 1-0 in the Lone Star Conference while Eastern New Mexico fell to 6-10 and 0-1.

   Sophomore Chad Nelson was also big off the bench for the Hogs, scoring a season-high 11 points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking two shots.

   Reggie Love and Adan Montalvo each had 14 while point guard Wendell Mulkey added 10 points, six assists and two steals.

   The Javelinas shot a season-best 57.8 percent from the floor, made 7-of-12 3-point shots and 15 of 21 free throws.

   The Hogs out rebounded the Greyhounds 32-27 and tied a season-high with five blocked shots.

   Up by five at the half, the Hogs increased the lead to nine, 49-40, three minutes into the second half. A 3-point shot by Love and a 3-point play by Juan Lanauze keyed the quick start.

   The lead grew to 11, 54-43, on another 3-point shot by Love at the 16 minute mark.

   The Javelinas hit 5 of their first 7 shots and 2 of 3 3-point shots during that opening stretch.

   Then the Hogs went inside to Story who scored seven consecutive points to maintain the 11-point lead, 61-50 with just over 11 minutes left in the game.

   Eastern cut the lead to five, 61-56, but Reggie Love stole the ball and fed it to Nelson for a layup, the Hogs forced another turnover on the next possession.

   The lead was back down to four, 63-59 when Montalvo hit a 3-point shot as the shot clock expired to expand the lead back to 7, 66-59 with 5:55 remaining.

   Nelson added a layup with 4:15 left to make it 68-59.

   The Hog defense made life miserable for the Greyhounds after they cut the lead to four. Eastern missed four consecutive shots and turned the ball over three turnovers during a three minute stretch in which the Hogs held them without a field goal.

   Story scored on a layup out of the halfcourt offense with 1:54 remaining, the Hogs forced another Greyhound turnover on their next possession and Nelson tipped in a missed free throw with 1:15 remaining to put the lead back into double figures and the game out of reach at 72-62.

   The Javelina offense struggled in the first half. The Hogs made just 7 of their first 16 shots and turned the ball over seven times, trailing 22-17 with seven and a half minutes left in the first half.

   But A&M-Kingsville played well down the stretch, hitting 7 of its final 8 shots of the half and grabbed a 40-35 halftime advantage.

   The Greyhounds led the Javelinas 30-26 with 4:16 left in the half, but the Hogs went on a 14-5 run to close the half.

   Story scored four points, Love knocked down a 3-point shot, Mulkey hit a layup and Chad Nelson added two free throws during that stretch.

   A&M-Kingsville shot 58 percent from the floor in the first half while Eastern made just 43 percent of its shots.

   The Hogs were on fire from beyond the 3-point arch in the first half, hitting 4 of 5 shots, two by Love and one each by Montalvo and Nelson.

   Each team committed 11 turnovers and made eight free throws in the first half.